History’s Xerox Machine

I was listening to a talk by renowned PhilosopherStefan Molyneux as he was interviewing a single mother – Stefan’s was in political, or socio-economic mode at that moment – so, we follow her list of bad choices, which could accurately be described as “non choices” to the uninitiated. Stefan was politely correcting her at times to point out that “it just happened” wasn’t acceptable and that taking responsibility for her actions was essential to get her life back on track. Later… some time later… she mentioned her mother. Then we hear about her step-siblings with different fathers.

Stefan paused and said “wish you’d mentioned that earlier… so… basically we’re doing the Xerox of History, feed the life sheet in and out comes a copy”

It just struck me as a brilliant way of describing a snapshot of how the process happens. Because human’s are-behavioral wise-ALL nurture and no nature (sans caution of falling, dislike of dark etc.) despite the fact you probably hear this is still in debate. We learn our behavior from our earliest years and so, usually, parents are the greatest influence hence his comment. The little girl learns her mother’s behavior – see my other site to learn how – and repeats it and we have History’s Xerox Machine! Also, a great catch phrase to remind parents that their children’s life behavior rules will be formed between 2 and 7 years of age, so be extra careful at this time.

While I’m on the subject of Stefan Molyneux I should also mention he has a ‘Zero Tolerance for Hitting Children‘ideology which I happen to agree with – yes, I’m aware I’m very conservative and incorporate a lot of old fashioned values, like teaching boys to control their emotions, develop courage, and learn at a young age to tolerate discomfort, no, I didn’t starve them or anything, I’m talking about outdoor survival, putting up with being wet & cold (a bit) and not having a soft bed, or 24/7 computer games – I didn’t hit my children. In fact, when I occasionally lost my temper I would go to them and apologize – I reminded them of their transgression but would apologize for mine. This isn’t soft, it has a lot in common with the Spartan Agoge where respect for the mentor is critical, how do you respect: do what I say not what I do? or because I said so! Know anyone, including yourself that didn’t hate that? When you have the mentor-respect dynamic just discussing incorrect behavior is sufficient, and for any skeptics THIS IS EXACTLY THE SYSTEM USED BY THE MILITARY.

While on an exercise which was part of the Green Beret qualifying course we would all screw up at some point. All the squad were punished and all accepted it, they knew they got off easy because they guy who transgressed had to deal with letting down himself, his squad and the mentor (my case a tough USMC Sergeant). I CAN PERSONALLY CONFIRM THAT ALL ARE BAD BUT LETTING DOWN YOUR MENTOR WAS THE WORST PART what followed was a spring-back effect, you double your efforts in order to restore your honor. IT WORKS! Both with military personnel and children – hitting (remember, I’m a pragmatist not soft) developes a tolerance for dishonorable violence (anyone weaker than you) and is easy to get past – the child either acclimates to it, or withdraws and is damaged. Not good policies.

N.B. As I explain on the Inception Point Mapping™ site, the 2 to 7 development is just the beginning, what is given to them at this point is subjected to the laws of Chaos Theory (non-linear dynamics) which incrementally changes these ideas to produce the complex set of behaviors we see around us.